Seminar 17:Unrightable Wrongs and Reconciling the Past

Many intractable conflicts are characterized by grievous structural and gruesome physical violence that cannot be fixed--hence the term "unrightable wrongs." But in order for reconciliation, transformation or resolution to occur, somehow these wrongs must be addressed in ways that heal both the perpetrators and the victims (who are often one and the same). This unit looks at the nature of the problem and alternative ways of approaching reconciliation.

Posts in this Seminar Include:

Reconciliation -- Reconciliation is seen as the ultimate goal of peacebuilding, in which parties re-establish relationships and attempt to move beyond the past.

Lederach's Meeting Place - This video, "borrowed" from the Conflict Frontiers Seminar explains Lederach's notion of reconciliation more deeply. The key idea is that reconciliation has four components: peace, justice, truth, and mercy, each of which are explored further belowl.

Historical Facts -- The saying, "history is written by the victor," refers to the fact that historical facts are often biased or inaccurate. Yet long-running conflicts are often based on these controversial "facts." This essay explores the impact of history on current conflicts.

Ethos of Conflict -- A community's ethos is its shared beliefs, goals and identity. Communities in an intractable conflict expand that ethos to explain their approach to the conflict. A community's ethos strongly affects how destructive the conflict becomes

Principles of Justice and Fairness -- It's common sense that justice is central to any well-functioning society. However, the question of what justice is and how to achieve it are more difficult matters. This essay begins to explore the conundrum.

Types of Justice -- Different spheres of society approach justice differently. This essay breaks justice down into four types: distributive, procedural, retributive, and restorative and explains the meaning of each.

Restorative Justice -- Restorative justice is justice that is not designed to punish the wrong-doer, but rather to restore the victim and the relationship to the way they were before the offense. Thus, restorative justice requires an apology from the offender, restitution for the victim, and forgiveness of the offender by the victim.

Distributive Justice -- -- When people believe that their situation is not equal to that of other people like them, they feel a sense of injustice. Distributive justice is the attempt to create a fair and equal division of society's wealth and status.

Apology and Forgiveness -- These are two sides of the mutli-faceted "diamond" of reconciliation. Both are necessary for true reconciliation to take place.

Humanization -- Viewing one's opponent as evil, perverted, or criminal justifies violence and make acts that were previously unthinkable seem perfectly acceptable. The opposite of this is humanization, where opponents recognize their common humanity and feel empathy for for each other. Artists, journalists and teachers have traditionally played key roles in humanization.

Truth Commissions -- Truths commissions are official groups endowed with the authority to extensively investigate the human rights abuses and war crimes committed in a specific country or region during a specified time period.

Amnesty -- Many argue that amnesty can allow societies to wipe the slate clean after war crimes or other human rights abuses, to put the past behind them in favor of the future. Others argue, that this condones the perpetrators' actions and encourages such behavior.

International War Crimes Tribunals -- These are tribunals designed to prosecute war crimes such as genocide, torture, and rape. Such tribunals are becoming increasingly common and are used instead of or in conjunction with truth commissions to try to move beyond the violence of many ethnic conflicts and allow the society to build peace.

Beyond Intractability's initiatives, learning materials, and knowledge base are designed to help everyone play a more constructive role in limiting the intractable and extraordinarily complex conflict problems that threaten our common future. Find out more...